WHAT’S NEXT FOR A.J., KNOCK-KNOCK JOKES?

You’re about to find out. And, well, it probably won’t make you like the man any more.

Arguably the most polarizing figure in San Diego sports history is still spending his time in town, on the beach just down from his home more days than not, as relaxed as he’s been in at least a decade, but still as comically barbed as ever.

“I should have never stopped making our picks from Mel Kiper’s Big Board,” A.J. Smith said to a question about why the drafts in the middle of his 10-year reign as Chargers general manager were so dreadful.

All through lunch at a beachside restaurant Friday, Smith smiled. And he never once awarded a question a straightforward answer. It’s as if he’s been taking public speaking lessons from Mike McCoy.

Besides asking the above question about his role in the systematic destruction of the Chargers, I tried to prompt something with queries about the Mannings, “Hard Knocks” and the new Chargers regime.

Dressed like he just returned from the Bahamas, leaning back and sipping an iced tea, Smith would offer only a shrug, a “no comment” or deflect with another joke.

You get the impression Smith is happier now, though you know he’d rather be in charge of a team. And you cannot let the seeming indifference deceive.

He loves football, is addicted to being part of a quest.

Remember, he was bold enough to state a goal of winning two Super Bowls. He was all football, all the time. He has no hobbies, other than walking on a sunny beach and being an irascible son of a gun.

He could have taken his $2 million per annum (this year and next) from the Chargers, claimed to have briefly been tempted to take up the game of golf his wife loves so much and/or travel from island to island, as he claims they will one day do.

Smith did say he follows what is going on at Chargers Park.

“I wish them the very best,” he said. “The organization has a lot of quality people who want to win badly. It’s a new beginning for them. They are just underway. No one cares what I think about how they’re doing. It doesn’t matter what I think.”

It might not matter, but some people do care. Not very many days pass where I don’t get an inquiry via email or Twitter about what Smith is doing these days. I suspect the answer many want to hear is “Rotting in Hell.”

He’s not. He has split his time between the paradise of Del Mar and the outskirts of Washington, D.C., and he’ll travel in the fall working as a sort of consultant for his new employer, the Washington Redskins.

“I love it,” he said. “It’s been exciting. The thrill of the chase for a championship gets all of us going into high gear.”

Smith’s role is the wide-ranging advisory capacity that many a former GM settles into after being fired. He helps evaluate the Redskins roster, other players around the NFL and college players. Not only is Redskins General Manager Bruce Allen one of Smith’s closest friends, Smith’s son, Kyle, is a scout for the team.

“It’s been more of a thrill than I originally thought it would be,” Smith said of working with his son. “We talk football business all the time. When it really hit home for me was when I was in for the draft and watching him … I just said to myself, ‘Where does the time go?’ “

It’s the same thing we asked about his tenure here — something Smith won’t acknowledge to reflecting on just yet.

In regard to a request he look back and assess why the Chargers failed to make the playoffs his final three seasons in charge, Smith referenced a Saturday Night Live skit: “Looking back, I would say we needed ‘More Cowbell.’ ”

The answer offered no insight, other than that Smith remains the same as he ever was.